With the 4th of July just over a week away I wanted to share this quick & easy patriotic fruit bowl with you guys. It’s light and refreshing – and did I mention easy?!
All you need is watermelon, strawberries, and blueberries. You could add raspberries and blackberries if the seeds don’t annoy you as much as they annoy me. You also need a small star cookie cutter. Slice the watermelon about the thickness of your cookie cutter and then punch out little watermelon stars. Gently toss the watermelon with some blueberries and sliced strawberries, and then serve it in a white bowl.
It’s perfect for taking to a 4th celebration or just getting your kids to eat more fruit!
Just yesterday I was telling you how my husband had been gone for awhile, remember? Well he came home early which means that the floors weren’t mopped, the clean clothes were still in the dryer (you know, the ones I washed 3 days ago), and most importantly, the fridge was empty. And by empty I mean there’s nothing but a gallon of milk, 2 eggs, and a jug of tea that one of his friends left here awhile ago.
I felt pretty awful that he had come home to no food – not awful enough to actually get dressed and go to the store, mind you – and ended up making these blueberry crumb muffins for him to snack on.
I have to say, this might be the best blueberry muffin recipe I have tried. I think it’s the crumb to muffin ratio that makes these so fantastic. You’re going to think you have too much crumb topping but just keep piling it on! It’s the best part, of course. The muffins by themselves are great too – soft and sweet with the slightly tart blueberry throughout.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup milk
1 pint blueberries
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.
To make the crumb topping:
Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon to a medium bowl; stir with a fork to combine. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar to the pan, using a rubber spatula to combine with the butter. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over the flour mixture and use the fork to stir until all of the flour is moistened. Set aside while you make you muffin batter.
To make the muffins:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until pale in color, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. With the mixer on low speed, add ½ of the flour mixture then the milk and finally the remaining flour mixture, beating only until just combined.
Scrape the sides of the bowl then add the blueberries, folding them into the batter. Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the muffin pans, filling each about ¾-full. Break the crumb topping into small pieces and scatter over the tops of the muffins. Bake for about 22 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the muffin pans to a wire rack and let the muffins cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan to the rack to cool completely.
So I mentioned we were moving and then disappeared for a month. Totally not my intention but if there’s one thing I’ve learned with the Army, it’s to never expect anything to happen when they say it will happen. Anyway, we’re finally settled, finally have internet set up, and finally replaced the laptop cord that a certain rodent made a midnight snack.
We moved from a very hot, wet area on the Gulf of Mexico to the dry, it’s-101-degrees-outside-but-feels-like-80 Colorado. Seriously, we’ve been here a month and I’ve yet to break a sweat. It’s the weirdest thing ever. However, the sun is ridiculous. It’s, like, right there. You walk outside for 5 minutes and your skin smells like you just spent 20 minutes in a tanning bed. You pretty much have to wake up with a bottle of water in your hand and then fall asleep with one in your hand or else you’re dehydrated beyond belief. I’m hoping it’s just something we have to adjust to but in an effort to hydrate in more exciting ways, I made this fruit salad.
It turned out fantastic and everyone in my house loved it! I think next time I make it, I’ll throw in some banana slices, shredded coconut, and maybe some mandarin oranges. It was delicious as is but if you can get away with more fruit, why not!
1 can (10 ounces) frozen non-alcoholic pina colada mix, thawed
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup pineapple-orange-banana juice (Dole makes one.)
⅛ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
In a serving bowl, combine all of the fruit. In a small bowl, whisk the pina colada mix, sugar, juice and extract until sugar is dissolved. Pour over fruit; toss to coat. Chill until serving.
This week’s Project Pastry Queen recipe was chosen by Josie of Pink Parsley and she chose the Peach Jam Scones. I obviously made blueberry scones instead of the peach but followed the same method that is used in The Pastry Queen book. I had every intention of using peaches but last night I realized I hadn’t made them yet and the only fruit I had was frozen blueberries so blueberries it was. Luckily I had some Crofter’s in the fridge which went perfectly with the blueberries.
It’s a pretty basic dough recipe but instead of mixing in the blueberries like you would a typical scone, you “stuff” the scones. It was kind of a pain because the dough kept sticking to my work surface but in the end, it was well worth the effort. I made 1/3 of the recipe (I know, who thirds a recipe?) and ended up with 7 normal sized scones so I definitely suggest cutting down the recipe unless you’re feeding a large crowd.
The scones are delicious. When I think of scones I think of dry and bland, but these were not dry at all and the flavor from the jam and blueberries in the middle was fantastic. I cannot wait to try these with different fruit/jam mixtures!
Thanks to Josie for choosing a great recipe and make sure you visit the Project Pastry Queen blogroll to see what everyone else had to say.
6 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, chilled 1 1/2 to 2 cups milk 1/2 cup jam 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries (defrosted if frozen) 1/4 cup raw sugar
Preheat the oven to 425F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add to the mixture. Use a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut the butter into the flour until it’s crumbly. Pour in 1 1/2 cups of the milk and stir. If the dough begins to stick together in a ball, remove it. If not, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to clump into a ball.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Use your hands to pat the dough into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle, about 12 by 10 inches. Spread a thin layer of jam lengthwise over half the dough and arrange the blueberries in a single layer on top of the jam. Fold the plain dough over the peaches to make a 12 by 5-inch rectangle with jam and blueberries folded inside. Cut the dough into 8 large triangles and sprinkle the top of the scones with the raw sugar.
Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, until the scones are a light golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I bought a couple of those super adorable mini loaf pans back before the holidays because I had grand plans of fruitcakes and gingerbread loaves and who knows what else, but for some reason I never used them. I pulled them out yesterday and was determined to use them by the end of the day.
I went with a blueberry-orange bread because well, we only had blueberries and oranges. Made my decision pretty easy.
So how good was the bread? I pulled it out of the oven at noon, my husband came home at 12:30, the bread was gone by 12:40. Seriously. Two loaves of bread. Gone.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan (or 2 mini ones).
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bowl, combine egg, orange juice, melted butter, and orange zest. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into prepared loaf pan making sure the top is even. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes (50 to 55 for the mini ones) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out onto a wire rack.
